Continuity and Change in Paths to High Political Office: Ex-Bureaucrats and Hereditary Politicians in Japan

Abstract

This paper examines two dominant paths to national political office in order to assess the degree of changes in Japanese politics. Ex-bureaucrats in political office (seikai tenshin) and hereditary politicians (seshu giin) make up a high percentage of prime ministers, cabinet members, and holders of elected positions in the Lower House of the Diet as well as in the Liberal Democratic Party. The percentage of seikai tenshin politicians has remained relatively stable, while that of seshu giin rose dramatically, pointing toward a narrowing of channels to high political office. Although it is well known that seshu giin represents a form of personalistic politics, it is less well known that over 60 per cent of cabinet members and almost 60 per cent of LDP Lower House members came through one of these two channels at the 2003 election. We maintain that the rise of seshu giin is related to koenkai, while hereditary politicians represent a bridging channel between local interests and the central government. This channel serves to illustrate the permeability of Japan's civil society and its state.